Since the advent of the wheel, mobility has permeated most aspects of life. From the animal drawn buggies and carts of yesteryear, to today's most sophisticated transportation vehicles, literally hundreds of millions of people have come to depend on mobility in their everyday lives. Mobility provides faster, more efficient modes of operation, thus creating more productive work-related activities and more enjoyable recreational activities.
While the wheel remains one of the most widely used mechanisms to facilitate today's transportation, other transportation mechanisms, such as aerodynamic lift and jet propulsion, have also emerged. Generally speaking, all modes of transportation are derived from a need to transport a payload from one point to another.
In most instances, it is advantageous to reduce the amount of kinetic energy that is transferred to the payload, no matter what the payload may be. Substantial elimination of the transfer of road vibration to passengers in a motor vehicle, for example, may serve to minimize discomfort and/or injury, such as back pain, that may be caused by the road vibration. Furthermore, such a reduction may serve to increase the passengers' endurance during long road trips, while preserving energy once the destination has been reached.
Reduction in the amount of kinetic energy that is transferred to the vibration sensitive payloads during transport remains a high priority design criterion for virtually every mode of transportation. Current kinetic energy absorption solutions, however, tend to be largely ineffective, due in part to the inadequate level of shock absorption provided. Other kinetic energy absorption solutions may only offer a static level of kinetic energy absorption and are, therefore, incapable of providing shock absorption with respect to a changing environment.
In a mobile environment, however, a substantial portion of the acceleration forces exerted on the payload are time-varying acceleration forces, which render static kinetic energy absorption solutions largely ineffective. Efforts continue, therefore, to enhance shock absorption performance for virtually any payload and for virtually any type of mobile environment.